Illustrative image (Photo: VNA) During a recent talk with Vietnam News Agency correspondents in the UK, theTrade Envoy said the two countries are celebrating the 50th anniversary ofdiplomatic relations and this is a really important point. This offers the twocountries a chance to reflect on the extraordinary growth of their friendship,as well as to look ahead to the future and to the next 50 years.
Mr Garnier said the visit of Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong to the UK inMay to attend the Coronation of King Charles III, only his second overseasvisit in the role, was a testament to the fact that the bilateral relationshipis moving forward on so many fronts.
The British Prime Minister's Trade Envoy for Thailand, Myanmar, Brunei and Vietnam, Mark Garnier. (Photo: VNA) This representsa significant step forward in the two nations' economic and trade ties. As a result, bilateral trade in 2022 increased 29% from the previous yearto around 6.9 billion GBP, the significant majority of which is Vietnamese exportsto the UK. But there are a lot of opportunities for the UK to explore in thefuture, according to the Trade Envoy.
According to Mr Garnier, as the UK has now signed the accession to CPTPP withthe support from Vietnam for which the UK is grateful, there are a lot ofopportunities for the UK to work with Vietnam, particular in agritech,financial and professional services, pharmaceutical and healthcare industry,education, and certainly, the important green energy production and building upthe infrastructure in the energy grid in Vietnam. Coming this way, he pointedout, there is a lot of opportunities for Vietnam to trade with the UK,including building on already a number of exports to the UK like mobiletelephones assembled in Vietnam, clothes and textiles.
According to the Trade Envoy, joining CPTPP will complement the existingUKVFTA, upgrading bilateral relationship with additional preferential tariffs,providing more interesting opportunity for cooperation between the twocountries. With preferential tariffs, the UK is now able to continue importingiconic products from Vietnam, such as Vietnamese shrimps and pomelos whilstVietnam can enjoy Scotch Whisky and seafood from the UK.
According to Mr Garnier, the UK and Vietnam share a strategic commitment toglobal trade and the free flow of capital and investments. CPTPP sets highstandards for trade and includes provisions for areas like digital trade,e-commerce, and trade in services that suit modern economies like the UK.
He said joining CPTPP offers considerable opportunities to UK businesses,making it easier for them to trade with the vibrant and dynamic economics inthis trade bloc, which represents a combined population of half a billionpeople with a joint gross domestic product of 9 trillion GBP in 2021. He believedVietnam has a strong position to be able to provide a regional base for UKbusinesses seeking to tap opportunities from CPTPP.
In the role of Trader Envoy, Mr Garnier saw a great opportunity to help notonly British businesses invest into Vietnam but also Vietnamese businesses whowant to come and invest in the UK to find a good location and take advantage ofthe domestic market.
In terms of further promoting the bilateral trade and investment that benefitsboth countries and enabling this relationship to reach its full potential, hebelieved stability, predictability, and transparency continue to be key forbusinesses and for attracting investment, as does enabling workers andinvestors to come to Vietnam.
The Trade Envoy said what the two governments have to do now is to make surethat businesses are allowed to create the trades and the transactions they needto do and that those businesses are being introduced to each other, setting upnetworks where the businesses can then take it forward ultimately.
Commenting on Vietnam’s opportunities, the Trade Envoy said Vietnam isincreasingly significant to the UK’s trade agenda and its growing focus onASEAN and Asia-Pacific, believing Vietnam-UK trade continues to grow withimmense potential for commercial partnerships across a broad range ofsectors.
The Trade Envoy saw Vietnam as a very exciting country with a population of 102million and a desire to be a high-income country, believing Vietnam will be anexciting market in the years to come.
Mr Garnier said discussion is underway with Ho Chi Minh City about thepossibility of setting up a financial services hub with wholesale financial markets,financial advice, stock markets where the UK can help with.
He stressed foreign investors, including those from the UK, are becomingincreasingly sensitive to environmental and climate concerns, saying he was pleasedto see Vietnam beginning to lead the way in the region on sustainability.Following Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's visit to Glasgow for COP26 in 2021,where he made the historic net zero commitment, international partnerssuccessfully agreed a Just Energy Transition Partnership with Vietnam, whichwill mobilise 15.5 billion USD in international technical and financial assistanceto accelerate Vietnam's transition from coal to renewable energy.
According to him, investing now in clean infrastructure and high-tech climatesolutions will be vital for Vietnam to maintain its attractiveness to investorsand sustain its economic growth in the coming decades. He pointed out thebusiness community has an important role to play in enabling this, which willnot only allow Vietnamese products to enter markets with high environmental andquality standards such as the UK, but will also attract more UK investors toVietnam.
In his capacity as Trade Envoy, Mr Garnier is committed to further deepeningbilateral trade and investment ties, forging new and fruitful commercialpartnerships between the two countries’ companies, and ensuring furthercollaboration on trade policy and market access issues.
As UK businesses are ever more conscious of the opportunities available in theVietnamese market, the Trade Envoy also said, in his role, he will do his best toensure the profile of Vietnam continue to rise amongst UK businesses and to seeUK investment into Vietnam continue to increase./.
VNA
